Musical information recording and reproducing technique for use with a recording medium having a UTOC area

ABSTRACT

There is generated a rhythm corresponding to a designated tempo and meter of a music piece to be recorded. Performance of a musical instrument is started at specific timing according to the generated rhythm, and the musical information resulting from the performance is recorded onto an MD (Mini Disk). The address on the MD read out when the performance of the music piece is started is retrieved as a start address of the music piece. After the recording, the retrieved start address is recorded onto the UTOC (User&#39;s-table-of-contents) area of the disk along with the designated tempo and meter. By reading out the start address, tempo and meter to calculate a measure number and start address of a desired measure on the basis of the read out information, display of a measure number being currently reproduced and quick access to the starting point of any desired measure can be achieved. In applications where plural channels are involved, part information indicative of performance parts assigned and recorded on the individual recording channels is also recorded onto the UTOC area. When necessary, the part information is visually displayed. In ping-pong recording, performance parts to be mixed are additively synthesized on the basis of the recorded part information and then recorded onto the UTOC area as part information for a channel where the mixed output is to be recorded.

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

Musical Information Recording and Reproducing Technique for Use with aRecording Medium having a UTOC Area

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a musical informationrecording and reproducing technique for use with a recording mediumhaving a UTOC (User's-table-of-contents) area.

More particularly, the present invention relates to musical informationrecording and reproducing devices and a musical information recordingmedium which permit display of a measure being currently reproduced andselective quick access to the starting point of any desired measure.

The present invention also relates to a multichannel mixing recorder forrecording input musical signals onto optionally selected channels andmixing the musical signals recorded on the plural channels, and moreparticularly to such a multichannel mixing recorder which allows a userto readily verify the assignment of various performance parts toindividual channels to thereby achieve smooth multiplex recording andediting.

On recording media such as a CD (Compact Disk), MD (Mini Disk) and DCC(Digital Compact Cassette), there are recorded musical information ofmusic pieces and address information associated therewith. Thus, duringreproduction from the media, the address of every point of the musicpiece being currently reproduced can be displayed in a succesive manner.Additionally, information indicative of the respective starting points(heads) of the individual music pieces is also recorded on the media asTOC (Table of Contents) information so that the starting point of anydesired music piece can be immediately accessed on the basis of this TOCinformation.

In musical education, or other cases where a recorded musical instrumentperformance is reproduced for practices on the instrument, it may bevery convenient if a player is informed of which measure in the score isbeing currently reproduced by a reproducing device. It may be even moreconvenient if the starting point of a specific measure can beimmediately accessed by mere designation of a unique number allocated tothat measure. However, none of the conventionally known CD, MD and DCCplaying devices were capable of achieving such measure-by-measuredisplay and starting point access, although they could permit display ofthe varying addresses (passage of time) and starting point access foreach of the music pieces recorded. Consequently, the known CD, MD andDCC playing devices were not so convenient for purposes like musicaleducation and musical instrument practices.

Further, in the known CD, MD or DCC playing devices, multichannelrecording is done by first performing rhythm parts to record theperformed rhythm parts onto optionally designated individual channels(“initial recording”), then performing one or more other parts, whilereproducing the recorded rhythm parts, to record the other parts ontoother channels (“overdubbing”), and finally reproducing and mixingtogether the recorded performance parts of all the channels so as toultimately output the resultant mixed performance parts through two(right and left) channels (“mixdown”). Where relatively many performanceparts are involved, the multichannel recording is done by firstoverdubbing and mixing some of the performance parts, then temporarilytransferring the resultant mixed performance parts onto an empty channel(“ping-pong recording”) so as to record other performance parts onto thechannels and have become empty due to the ping-pong recording, andfinally mixing down the recorded performance parts of all the channels.

However, with the conventionally known CD, MD or DCC playing device, themultichannel recording involves preparing a planning sheet where thereare written, for each of the steps, the assignment of the performanceparts to the individual channels and various settings such as effectorsto be applied to the performance parts. The operator (i.e., person incharge) handles the channel assignment etc. in accordance with theplanning sheet. However, whenever it was desired to ascertain, duringrecording, which parts have so far been assigned to which channels, theoperator had to refer to the planning sheet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide musicalinformation recording and reproducing devices and a musical informationrecording medium which permit display of a measure number beingcurrently reproduced and quick access to the starting point of anydesired measure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a multichannelrecorder which allows a user to readily verify the assignment ofperformance parts to individual channels without having to referring toa planning sheet so as to achieve smooth multiplex recording and editingof musical information.

In order to accomplish the first object, the present invention providesa recording device for recording musical information of a music pieceonto a recording medium having address information previously recordedthereon, which device comprises a tempo designation section fordesignating a tempo of a music piece to be recorded, a meter designationsection for designating meter of the music piece, a rhythm generationsection for generating, in light or sound form, a rhythm correspondingto the tempo and meter designated by the tempo and meter designationsections, a start timing instruction section for instructing timing tostart performance of the music piece, an input section for inputtingmusical information of the music piece, a music piece recording sectionfor recording, onto the recording medium, the musical information of themusic piece input by the input section, a start address retrievalsection for retrieving, as a start address of the music piece, theaddress information read out from the recording medium when the timingto start performance of the music piece is instructed by the instructionsection, and a tempo, meter and start address recording section forrecording, onto a predetermined recording area of the recording medium,information indicative of the tempo and meter designated by the tempoand meter designation sections and the start address retrieved by theretrieval section.

According to the recording device thus arranged, a specific rhythm isgenerated by the rhythm generation section in response to designation ofa desired tempo and meter of a music piece to be recorded. Performanceof a musical instrument or the like is started at specific timingaccording to the generated rhythm, and the performance (performed sound)information resulting from the performance is recorded onto therecording medium by the music piece recording section. The address onthe recording medium read out when the performance of the music piece isstarted is retrieved, as a start address of the music piece, by theretrieval section. After completion of the musical informationrecording, the retrieved start address of the music piece is recordedonto the predetermined recording area (corresponding to the UTOC area inthe later-described embodiments) of the medium along with informationindicative of the designated tempo and meter. With this arrangement,display of a measure number being currently reproduced and quick accessto the starting point of any desired measure can be achieved by anappropriate reproducing device reading the information indicative of themusic piece start address, tempo and meter and calculating the measurenumber, start address of the desired measure etc. on the basis of theread information.

The present invention also provides a reproducing device for reproducingrecorded information from a recording medium having musical informationof a music piece recorded thereon along with associated addressinformation and also having other information indicative of a tempo,meter and start address of the music piece recorded on a predeterminedrecording area thereof, which device comprises a reading section for,prior to reproduction of the music piece, reading the informationindicative of the tempo, meter and start address from the predeterminedrecording area of the recording medium, a reproduction section forreproducing the musical information of the music piece along with theassociated address information, a measure number calculation section forcalculating a measure number n being currently reproduced, by performingan arithmetic operation of n=INT{(Ta−Ts)/N·t}+1, where Ts represents inseconds the start address of the music piece read by the readingsection, Ta represents in seconds an address being currently reproduced,N represents the meter read by the reading section, t represents inseconds the tempo read by the reading section and INT{(Ta−Ts)/N·t}represents an integer part of (Ta−Ts)/N·t, and a measure number displaysection for displaying the measure number calculated by the calculationsection.

According to the reproducing device thus arranged, a measure number ncan be displayed by reading the information indicative of the musicpiece start address, tempo and meter from the predetermined recordingarea (corresponding to the UTOC area in the later-described embodiments)of the medium and calculating the measure number n corresponding to thecurrent reproduction address.

The present invention also provides a reproducing device for reproducingrecorded information from a recording medium having musical informationof a music piece recorded thereon along with associated addressinformation and also having other information indicative of a tempo,meter and start address of the music piece recorded on a predeterminedrecording area thereof, which device comprises a reading section for,prior to reproduction of the musical information of the music piece,reading the information indicative of the tempo, meter and start addressof the music piece from the predetermined recording area, a reproductionsection for reproducing the musical information of the music piece alongwith the associated address information, a measure number designationsection for designating a measure number in the music piece, a measurestart address calculation section for calculating a start address Ta ofthe measure number designated by the measure designation section, byperforming an arithmetic operation of Ta=Ts+(n−1)·N·t, where Tsrepresents in seconds the start address of the music piece read by thereading section, n represents the measure number designated by thedesignation section, N represents the meter read by the reading sectionand t represents in seconds the tempo read by the reading section, and ameasure start address search section for searching, on the recordingmedium, for the measure start address calculated by the calculationsection so that reproduction of the music piece is started at thecalculated measure start address.

According to the reproducing device thus arranged, by reading theinformation indicative of the music piece start address, tempo and meterof the music piece from the predetermined recording area (correspondingto the UTOC area in the later-described embodiments) of the medium andin response to designation of a measure number n whose starting point isto be accessed, the start address Ta of the designated measure number nis accurately calculated and thereby quick access to the staring pointof the measure can be achieved for precise, selective reproduction ofthe measure.

The present invention also provides a recording medium which has musicalinformation of a music piece recorded thereon along with correspondingaddress information and also has other information indicative of atempo, meter and start address of the music piece recorded on apredetermined recording area thereof. With this recording medium,display of a measure number being currently reproduced and quick accessto the starting point of any desired measure can be achieved by anappropriate reproducing device reading the information indicative of themusic piece start address, tempo and meter and calculating the measurenumber, start address of the desired measure etc. on the basis of theread information.

The present invention mentioned above should be found very convenientbecause of the features to permit display of a measure number beingcurrently reproduced and quick access to the starting point of anydesired measure.

Further, in order to accomplish the second object, the present inventionprovides a multichannel recorder for recording musical information ontoa recording medium, which comprises a mixing section for supplyingexternally input musical signals to recording channel inputs of channelsoptionally designated from among plural channels of the recordingmedium, a part information input operation section for inputting partinformation indicative of performance parts of the externally inputmusical signals, a recording and reproduction control section forrecording, onto a table-of-contents information recording area of therecording medium, the part information input by the operation section aspart information for the designated channels, and reproducing the partinformation from the table-of-contents information recording area, and adisplay section for displaying the part information for each of thechannels reproduced from the table-of-contents information recordingarea of the recording medium. According to the multichannel recorderthus arranged, part information indicative of performance parts assignedto the individual channels is recorded on the table-of contentsrecording area (corresponding to the UTOC area in the later-describedembodiments). By reading out the part information from the table-ofcontents recording area and displaying the read-out part information,the user is allowed to readily verify the assignment of variousperformance parts to the individual channels without a need to refer toa planning sheet, to thereby achieve smooth multiplex recording andediting of musical information.

Typically, the mixing section is constructed to mix the musical signalsreproduced from plural channels optionally designated for reproductionfrom among the channels of the recording medium, so as to supply themixed musical signals to a recording channel input of another channeloptionally designated for recording from among of the channels, andwherein the recording and reproduction control section synthesizes thepart information of the channels optionally designated for reproductionamong the part information reproduced from the table-of-contents area ofthe recording medium, so as to automatically record the synthesized partinformation as part information for the other channel designated forrecording. It is allowed to automatically create part information forthe recording channel by use of the part information already recordedfor the reproducing channels. This will reduce the necessary time andlabor for entering the performance parts.

For better understanding of the above and other features of the presentinvention, the preferred embodiments of the invention will be describedin detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the general hardware structure ofan MD recording/reproducing device in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram explanatory of an example of tempo/meter/music startaddress information generated as UTOC information;

FIG. 3 is a diagram explanatory of a recording operation of the MDrecording and reproducing device;

FIG. 4 is a diagram explanatory of a measure search operation performedduring reproduction;

FIG. 5 is a system block diagram illustrating another embodiment wherethe principle of the present invention is applied to a four-channel MDrecorder;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an MD showing the format of the disk;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of part information recordedon the UTOC area of the MD in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8A is a block diagram showing the connecting condition of a mixerin a first step of multichannel recording performed by the four-channelMD recorder of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8B is a diagram showing part information recorded on the UTOC areain the first step of the multichannel recording;

FIG. 9A is a block diagram showing the connecting condition of the mixerin a second step of the multichannel recording;

FIG. 9B is a diagram showing part information recorded on the UTOC areain the second step of the multichannel recording;

FIG. 10A is a block diagram showing the connecting condition of themixer in a third step of the multichannel recording;

FIG. 10B diagram showing part information recorded on the UTOC area inthe third step of the multichannel recording;

FIG. 11A is a block diagram the connection condition of the mixer in afourth step of the multichannel recording, and

FIG. 11B diagram showing part information recorded on the UTOC area inthe fourth step of the multichannel recording.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, a description will hereinafter be madeon an embodiment where the principle of the present invention is appliedto an MD recording/reproducing device and an MD.

In FIG. 1, the MD 10 is driven to rotate by a spindle motor 12. Aboveand below the MD 10 are provided a recording head (magnetic head) 14 andan optical pickup 16 in opposed relation to each other. The recordinghead 14 and optical pickup 16 are mechanically interconnected formovement along the radius of the MD 10 via a feed motor 18.

In recording, each musical signal input through an input terminal 22 isconverted by an A/D converter 24 into digital representation and thenconverted by a sound compression/expansion section 27 into compressedform. The thus-compressed signal is temporarily stored into a memory(shock-proof memory) 31 via a memory controller 29 and then subjected toan EFM (Eight-to-fourteen Modulation) process performed via an EFM/ACIRC(Advanced Cross Interleave Reed-Solomon)-encoder/decoder 33. A headdrive section 35 modulates a head drive signal with the EFM signal todrive the recording head 14. The optical pickup 16 irradiates arecording laser beam of predetermined power onto the recording surfaceof the disk 10 which is opposite to the recording head 14, to therebyeffect recording based on magnetic field modulation. In reproduction, onthe other hand, the optical pickup 16 irradiates a reproducing laserbeam of lower power to read the recorded information from the disk 10.

In reproduction, each RF signal output from the optical pickup 16 isamplified via an RF amplifier 19 and then EFM-demodulated by theEFM/ACIRC-encoder/decoder 33. The thus-demodulated program signal(musical signal) is temporarily stored into the memory 31 under thecontrol of the memory controller 29 and is then read out to be expandedby the sound compression/expansion section 27. The expanded signal fromthe compression/expansion section 27 is converted by a D/A converter 36into analog representation and then output via an output terminal 41.

Position (address) information, which is recorded in advance onpre-grooves in the disk 10, is decoded via an address decoder 37 forutilization by a system controller 45. A servo control circuit 43, byuse of the output signal from the optical pickup 16, performs focusing,tracking and feed control of the optical pickup 16 as well as rotationcontrol of the spindle motor 12. The rotation control of the spindlemotor 12 is performed in such a manner that wobble signal can bedetected at a predetermined frequency.

During recording and reproduction, the system controller 45 controls theentire operation of the MD recording/reproducing device 11. A display 47displays a position, music piece number, measure number etc. beingrecorded or reproduced by the device 11. A key switch section 49 outputsa signal to instruct recording, reproduction, temporary stop, stop orthe like, in response to the user's operation on any of key switchescontained in the key switch section 49.

A tempo designation operator 50 is an operating member, such as ten keysor a knob, for the user to designate a desired tempo of a music piece tobe recorded. A meter designation operator 52 comprises an operatingmember, such as a knob or switch, for the user to designate a desiredtime or meter (such as triple or quadruple meter) of a music piece to berecorded. The meter designation operator 52 may comprise operatingmembers for designating any of rhythm types like waltz, march etc.,rather than the above-mentioned operating member for directlydesignating the meter.

The system controller 45 receives the designated tempo and meter so asto actuate a metronome 54 to generate a rhythm (corresponding to thetempo and meter). The metronome 54 is provided with LEDs 56 and speaker58 so as to light any of the LEDs in correspondence to the designatedtempo and audibly generate the corresponding rhythm via the speaker 58.

A music piece number designation operator 62 and a measure numberdesignation operator 64 comprise operating members, such as ten keys,for designating a music piece number and a measure number, respectively,during reproduction. Further, a music piece start timing instructionoperator 60 includes an operating member for instructing a start(beginning of the first measure) of a music piece to be recorded, and itoutputs a timing signal (trigger signal) when the user activates a footswitch or the like at predetermined performance start timing accordingto the rhythm generated by the metronome 54. Alternatively, the timingsignal may be automatically output by detecting the first performanceaction on a musical instrument (performance start)—in such a case, theperforming section such as a keyboard of the musical instrument itselffunctions as the music piece start timing instruction operator 60. Amemory 61 is provided for storing the designated tempo and meter,address information corresponding to the music piece start timing, andUTOC (User's-table-of-contents) information read out from the disk 10.

Next, a description will be made on an example of the recording andreproducing control performed by the system controller 45.

(1) Recording Control

A desired tempo and meter of a music piece to be recorded are designatedvia the tempo and meter designation operators 50 and 52, respectively,and the designated tempo and meter are stored into the memory 61. Thus,the metronome 54 generates a rhythm corresponding to the designatedtempo and meter in sound and light. Then, after having placed the disk10 in the recording condition, the player or user activates the timinginstruction operator 60 at specific timing corresponding to the rhythmgenerated from the generator 54 by listening to or viewing the generatedrhythm, so as to initiate a performance (this activation of the operator60 is unnecessary where it is done automatically). Once a music piecestart timing instruction is given from the operator 60, the systemcontroller 45 retrieves the address information read out from the MD 10to store it into the memory 61 as a music piece start address.

FIG. 2 is a diagram explanatory of exemplary relationships between therhythm generated by the metronome 54, performance and music piece starttiming instruction where the performance is started in four-four (4/4)meter. During the performance, the rhythm generation and control ofrecording rate on the MD 10 are effected in synchronism with each otheron the basis of a same system clock.

Upon termination of the performance, the tempo information, meterinformation and address information of the music piece start positionare read out from the memory 61, generated as UTOC informationcorresponding to the tempo, meter and music piece start addressinformation, and then recorded onto the UTOC area of the MD 10. FIG. 3shows an example of the UTOC information thus recorded. According to theembodiment, the UTOC information may include the track (music piece)number on the assumption that a plurality of music pieces are recordedonto the same disk 10. The tempo and meter information, instead of beingindividually recorded, may be recorded as the product of theirrespective values.

(2) Reproducing Control

Once the disk 10 is set in the MD recording/reproducing device 11, theUTOC information stored in the UTOC area of the disk 10 is automaticallyloaded into the memory 61. Then, in response to the player's designationof a music piece number and predetermined reproducing operation, thestart address of the designated music piece number is read out from thememory 61, and the position indicated by the read-out address issearched for or retrieved so that the music piece is reproduced from itsvery beginning.

While the music piece is reproduced, the passage of time is displayed onthe basis of simultaneously read-out address information. Also, thesystem controller 45 carries out the following arithmetic operation soas to display a measure number being currently reproduced in asuccessive manner:n=INT{(Ta−Ts)/N·t}+1  (1)where Ta represents in seconds the address being currently reproduced,Ts the music piece start address in seconds, N the meter, t the tempo inseconds, and INT{(Ta−Ts)/N·t} the integer part of (Ta−Ts)/N·t. Inresponse to the player's designation of music piece and measure numbersand predetermined operation, the system controller 45 calculates thestart address Ta of the designated measure number of the designatedmusic piece number on the basis of the following equation:Ta=Ts+(n−1)·N·t  (2)Then, the system controller 45 searches for the calculated address Ta sothat reproduction starts at the beginning of the designated measure.FIG. 4 shows the search operation performed when measure number n isdesignated.

Although the embodiment has been described above in connection with acase where the principle of the present invention is applied to an MDrecording/reproducing device, the invention may of course be applied toother kinds of recording/reproducing device which use other recordingmedia such as different type optical disks, optical magnetic disks,magnetic tapes and magnetic disks.

According to the invention having the above-described features, displayof a measure number being currently reproduced and quick access to thestarting point of any desired measure can be achieved by just readingthe information indicative of the music the piece start address, tempoand meter and calculating the measure number, start address of thedesired measure etc. on the basis of the read information. Consequently,the invention will be very conveniently used in musical education andpractices on a musical instrument.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11, another embodiment of the presentinvention will be described in relation to a case where the principle ofthe invention is applied to a four-channel MD recorder 1.

FIG. 6 shows the disk format of an MD 10 for use with the recorder 1. Alead-in area 2 is disposed along inner-most circumference of the disk10, and a lead-out area 4 is disposed along the outer-most circumferenceof the disk 10. Between the lead-in and lead-out area 2 and 4 isprovided a recordable area 6 available for recording by the user. In theinner-most region of the recordable area 6, there is provided a UTOCarea (User's-table-of-contents recording area) 8 where part informationis recorded as will be later described, while in the outer-most region,there is provided a program area 9 for storing program information (inthis embodiment, musical information) for four channels.

In FIG. 7, there is shown an example of the part information formationrecorded on the UTOC area 8 of the disk 10. Here, in order to deal witha possible increase in the number of performance parts due to repetitionof “ping-pong recording”, 12-performance part names are recorded, foreach of the four channels CH1-CH4, in alphabetical abbreviations (e.g.,drum part is recorded as “DR”, vocal part as “VOC” and keyboard part as“KEY”).

FIG. 5 shows the systematic arrangement of the four-channel MD recorder1 which performs multichannel recording by use of the above-mentioneddisk 10. Similarly to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the MD 10 is driven torotate by a spindle motor 12. Above and below the MD 10 are provided arecording head (magnetic head) 14 and an optical pickup 16 in opposedrelation to each other. The recording head 14 and optical pickup 16 aremechanically interconnected for movement along the radius of the MD 10via a feed motor 18.

To line inputs Li1 to Li4 are input respective musical signals fromoutside the MD recorder 1. A mixer (mixing means) 20 receives themusical signals supplied through the lines Li1 to Li4, and musicalsignals reproduced from the MD 10 and supplied through channel outputsCHo1 to CHo4. Then, in response to the user's external operation forsetting the contents of desired mixing, channel assignment, etc., themixer 20 provides any of the received musical signals singly or in mixedform to channel inputs CHi1 to CHi4, or to line outputs Lo1 to Lo4 andmonitor output Mo. The mixer 20 also provides mixdown output to theright and left channels “R”CH and “L”CH. The mixer 20 also provides asystem controller 48 with mixing information that indicates varioussettings for desired mixing based on the user's external operation, suchas the contents of initial recording, overdubbing, ping-pong recording,and mixdown).

In recording, each musical signal supplied from the mixer 20 to thechannel inputs CHi1 to CHi4 is converted by a corresponding A/Dconverter 72-75 into digital representation and then converted by asound compression section 28 into compressed form. The thus-compressedsignal is temporarily stored into a memory (shock-proof memory) 32 via amemory controller 30 and then read out to be subjected to an EFM(Eight-to-fourteen Modulation) process performed via anEFM/ACIRC-encoder/decoder 34. A head drive section 35 modulates a headdrive signal with the EFM signal to drive the magnetic recording head14. The optical pickup 16 irradiates a recording laser beam ofpredetermined power onto the recording surface of the disk 10 which isopposite to the recording head 14, to thereby effect recording based onmagnetic field modulation.

In reproduction, on the other hand, readout from the MD 10 of therecorded information is executed by actuating the optical pickup 16 toirradiate a reproducing laser beam onto the disk 10. Each RF signal thatis then output from the optical pickup 16 is amplified via an RFamplifier 38 and then EFM-demodulated by the EFM/ACIRC-encoder/decoder34. The thus-demodulated program signal (musical signal) is temporarilystored into the memory 32 under the control of the memory controller 30and is then read out for signal expansion by a sound expansion section40. The expanded signal from the expansion section 40 is converted by acorresponding D/A converter 82-85 into analog representation and thenprovided to the mixer 20 via the corresponding channel output CHo1-CHo4.

As earlier mentioned in connection with the embodiment of FIG. 1,position (address) information, which is recorded in advance onpre-grooves in the disk 10, is decoded via an address decoder 46 forutilization by the system controller 48. A servo control circuit 90, byuse of the output signal from the optical pickup 16, performs focusing,tracking and feed control of the optical pickup 16 as well as rotationcontrol of the spindle motor 12. The rotation control of the spindlemotor 12 is performed in such a manner that wobble signal is detected ata predetermined frequency.

The system controller 48 controls the entire operation of the MDrecorder 1. Further, as a part information recording/reproducing controlmeans, the system controller 48 controls recording and reproduction ofthe part information onto and from the UTOC area of the MD 10. A keyswitch section 92 includes keys for use by the user to instructrecording, reproduction, stop etc., and also includes alphanumeric keysetc., as a part information input operator means, for use by the user toenter a desired performance part name. A display 94 displays addresses(passage of time) and also displays the part information for each of thechannels reproduced from the UTOC area of the MD 10 (the display 94 maydisplay the part information only when the user so instructs byoperating a predetermined key).

Now, an example of the multichannel recording performed by thefour-channel MD recorder 1 of FIG. 5 will be described step by step,with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11, of which FIGS. 8A, 9A, 10A and 11A showthe connecting conditions of the mixer 20 in the respective steps of themultichannel recording and FIGS. 8B, 9B, 10B and 11B show the contentsof part information recorded in the corresponding steps in the UTOC areaof the MD 10.

(1) Step 1: Sound or musical signals for the drum part are recorded ontochannel 1 (FIGS. 8A and 8B)

-   -   1) The microphone output for the drum part is connected to line        input Li1.    -   2) The connecting condition of the mixer 20 is set in such a        manner to interconnect line input Li1 and channel input CHi1.    -   3) From mixing information supplied by the mixer 20, the system        controller 48 detects that line input Li1 and channel input CHi1        have been interconnected.    -   4) The system controller 48 causes the display 94 to make a        display which prompts the user to enter a desired performance        part name.    -   5) The user uses the key switch section 92 to enter a        performance part name “DR”, for example.    -   6) The entered part name is temporarily stored into a        predetermined region of the memory 32.    -   7) A recording key in the key switch section 92 is activated by        the user to initiate sound recording.    -   8) After completion of the recording, the system controller 48        retrieves the part information from the memory 32 and records        the retrieved information onto the UTOC area of the MD 10 (FIG.        8B).

(2) Step 2: Sound signals for the bass guitar part are recorded ontochannel 2 while channel 1 is monitored (FIGS. 9A and 9B).

-   -   1) The information on the UTOC area of the MD 10 is reproduced        so as to store into the memory 32 the part information having so        far been recorded on the UTOC area.    -   2) Sound recording is performed in a similar manner to step 1,        and in response to the user's entry of, for example, “BG” as a        performance part name for channel 2, part information recording        onto the UTOC area of the MD 10 is effected as shown in FIG. 9B.

(3) Step 3: Sound signals for the rhythm guitar part are recorded ontochannel 3 while channels 1 and 2 are monitored (FIGS. 10A and 10B).

-   -   1) The information on the UTOC area of the MD 10 is reproduced        so as to store into the memory 32 the part information having so        far been recorded on the UTOC area.    -   2) Sound recording is performed in a similar manner to steps 1        and 2, and response to the user's entry of, for example, “RG” as        a performance part name for channel 3, part information        recording onto the UTOC area of the MD 10 is effected as shown        in FIG. 10B.

(4) Step 4: The sound signals recorded on channels 1, 2 and 3 are mixedand then ping-pong recorded onto channel 4 (FIGS. 11A and 11B).

-   -   1) The information on the UTOC area of the MD 10 is reproduced        so as to store into the memory 32 the part information having so        far been recorded on the UTOC area.    -   2) The connecting condition of the mixer 20 is set in such        manner to mix channel outputs CHo1, CHo2 and CHo3 and then        provide the mixed result to channel input CHi4.    -   3) From mixing information supplied by the mixer 20, the system        controller 48 detects the settings in the mixer 20.    -   4) The recording key in the key switch section 92 is activated        by the user to initiate sound recording. But, this time, the        user is not prompted to enter a desired performance part because        there is no performance part to be newly performed. Then, the        system controller 48 automatically additively synthesizes “DR”,        “BG” and “RG” and adds the synthesized names, as performance        part names for channel 4, to the part information of the memory        32.    -   5) After completion of the recording, the system controller 48        retrieves the part information from the memory 32 to thereby        update the recording on the UTOC area of the MD 10 (FIG. 11B).

Where a new part performance input from outside the recorder 1 is to besimultaneously mixed in the ping-pong recording, the user is prompted toenter the name of the new performance part. Further, where plural musicpieces are recorded onto a single MD 10, the part information may bemanaged independently for each music piece.

While performance part names are entered by use of alphanumeric keys inthe embodiment of FIG. 5, there may be provided key switchescorresponding to the individual performance parts so that any desiredperformance part may be entered at one touch on selected one of pluralkey switches that are provided in corresponding relation to theindividual performance part names. Further, while the embodiment hasbeen described as recording the part information onto the UTOC areaafter the sound recording in each step, the part information mayalternatively be recorded before the sound recording in each step.Furthermore, although the embodiment has been described as reading outthe part information from the MD 10 whenever the step is initiated, itis not necessary to do so if the part information recorded up to thelast step is caused to remain stored in the memory 32. Moreover, whilethe embodiment has been described above as applied to an MD recorder,the present invention is also applicable to multichannel recorders usingother kinds of recording media.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 5 thus arranged, by just reading outthe part information from the UTOC area and displaying the read-out partinformation, the user is allowed to readily verify the assignment ofvarious performance parts to the individual channels without a need torefer to a planning sheet, to thereby achieve smooth multiplex recordingand editing of musical information.

1. A recording device for recording musical information of a music pieceonto a recording medium having address information previously recordedthereon said device comprising: tempo designation means for designatinga tempo of a music piece to be recorded; meter designation means fordesignating meter of said music piece; rhythm generation means forgenerating, in light or sound, a rhythm corresponding to the tempo andmeter designated by said tempo and meter designation means; start timinginstruction means for instructing timing to start performance of saidmusic piece; input means for inputting musical information of said musicpiece; music piece recording means for recording, onto the recordingmedium, the musical information of said music piece input by said inputmeans; start address retrieval means for retrieving, as a start addressof said music piece, the address information read out from the recordingmedium when the timing to start performance of said music piece isinstructed by said instruction means, and tempo, meter and start addressrecording means for recording, onto a predetermined recording area ofthe recording medium, information indicative of the tempo and meterdesignated by said tempo and meter designation means and the startaddress retrieved by said retrieval means.
 2. A reproducing device forreproducing recorded information from a recording medium having musicalinformation of a music piece recorded thereon along with associatedaddress information and also having other information indicative of atempo, meter and start address of the music piece recorded on apredetermined recording area thereof, said device comprising: readingmeans for, prior to reproduction of the music piece, reading theinformation indicative of the tempo, meter and start address from thepredetermined recording area of the recording medium; reproduction meansfor reproducing the musical information of the music piece along withthe associated address information; measure number calculation means forcalculating a measure number n being currently reproduced, by performingan arithmetic operation ofn=INT{(Ta−Ts)/N·t}+1 where Ts represents in seconds the start address ofthe music piece read by said reading means, Ta represents in seconds anaddress being currently reproduced, N represents the meter read by saidreading means, t represents in seconds the tempo read by said readingmeans and INT{(Ta−Ts)/N·t} represents an integer part of (Ta−Ts)/N·t,and measure number display means for displaying the measure numbercalculated by said calculation means.
 3. A reproducing device forreproducing recorded information from a recording medium having musicalinformation of a music piece recorded thereon along with associatedaddress information and also having other information indicative of atempo, meter and start address of the music piece recorded on apredetermined recording area thereof, said device comprising: readingmeans for, prior to reproduction of the musical information of the musicpiece, reading the information indicative of the tempo, meter and startaddress of the music piece from the predetermined recording area;reproduction means for reproducing the musical information of the musicpiece along with the associated address information; measure numberdesignation means for designating a measure number in the music piece;measure start address calculation means for calculating a start addressTa of the measure number designated by said measure designation means,by performing an arithmetic operation ofTa=Ts+(n−1)·N·t where Ts represents in seconds the start address of themusic piece read by said reading means, n represents the measure numberdesignated by said designation means, N represents the meter read bysaid reading means and t represents in seconds the tempo read by saidreading means, and measure start address search means for searching, onthe recording medium, for the measure start address calculated by saidcalculation means so that reproduction of the music piece is started atthe calculated measure start address.
 4. A reproducing device forreproducing recorded information from a recording medium having musicalinformation of a music piece recorded thereon along with associatedaddress information and also having other information indicative of atempo, meter and start address of the music piece recorded on apredetermined recording area thereof, said device comprising: readingmeans for, prior to reproduction of the music piece, reading theinformation indicative of the tempo, meter and start address from thepredetermined recording area of the recording medium; reproducing meansfor reproducing the musical information of the music piece along withthe associated address information; measure number calculation means forcalculating a measure number corresponding to the address informationbeing currently reproduced in accordance with the address informationalong with which the music information is currently reproduced and alsowith the start address, tempo, and meter read by said reading means; andmeasure number display means for displaying the measure numbercalculated by said calculation means.
 5. A reproducing device forreproducing recorded information from a recording medium having musicalinformation of a music piece recorded thereon along with associatedaddress information and also having other information indicative of atempo, meter and start address of the music piece recorded on apredetermined recording area thereof, said device comprising: readingmeans for, prior to reproduction of the musical information of the musicpiece, reading the information indicative of the tempo, meter and startaddress of the music piece from the predetermined recording area;measure number designation means for designating a measure number in themusic piece; measure start address calculation means for calculating astart address of the measure number designated by said measure numberdesignation means in accordance with the measure number designated bysaid measure number designation means and also with the start address,tempo and meter of the music piece read by said reading means; measurestart address search means for searching, on the recording medium, forthe measure start address calculated by said calculation means; andreproduction means for reproducing the music information of the musicpiece, starting from the measure start address detected by said measurestart address search means.